


So Far to Find You

by ChloeOgradyXo



Category: Grey's Anatomy, Station 19 (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:34:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22089451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChloeOgradyXo/pseuds/ChloeOgradyXo
Summary: Amelia Frances Shepherd, a world-class neurosurgeonAtticus Lincoln, a top-rate orthopeadic surgeonMadison Esther Clarke, a thirteen-year-old girl in dire need of helpAmelia and Link have been seeing each other on and off for the past nine months. After having bad luck with love, Amelia thinks that she's found the one and decides that she wants to commit. Now a couple, Amelia and Link experience the ups and downs of being in a workplace relationship.When a thirteen-year-old girl keeps being brought into the ED, they start to suspect that something is wrong and investigates, but will it make things worse?
Relationships: Atticus Lincoln/Amelia Shepherd
Comments: 16
Kudos: 52





	1. The First Time

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**_For The First Time - The Script_ **

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It's a dreary Monday morning in Seattle. Amelia Shepherd and Atticus Lincoln, best known to his friends and colleagues as Link, are lying in bed together. Amelia is resting her head on Link as she traces her fingers on his chest whilst Link draws circles on her bare shoulder with his index finger. 

"Do we have to go to work?" Amelia groans as she looks up at her boyfriend.

"Unfortunately, yes." Link nods. "That's if we want to keep our jobs." He adds raising his eyebrow. "We've called in sick three times this week."

"Well," Amelia smirks as she climbs on top of him, "it's not my fault you're a sex god." She plants a kiss on his lips. 

"As much as I love you -" Link starts but Amelia kisses him again cutting him off, "and as much as I want to stay in bed with you all day", Amelia plants another kiss on his lips, "we have to go to work." Amelia sighs and rolls of him.

"You are such a killjoy." Amelia groans as Link gets out of bed and pulls his trousers on. 

"I think Bailey wants her best Neuro and Ortho surgeons back." Link laughs. "Come on." Link picks up her shirt from the floor and throws it at her.

~

One hour later, Amelia and Link are walking into the hospital hand in hand. As soon as they walk onto the surgical floor, Dr Miranda Bailey walks up to them. 

"Nice of you two to grace us with your presence," Miranda states clearly pissed off. "Dr Hayes needs a consult from both of you in the pit."

"Dr Hayes?" Link asks confused.

"Dr Cormac Hayes." Miranda replies. "Karev's replacement."

"Who's the patient?" Amelia queries.

"13-year-old girl. She fell and hit her head and has a queried distal radial fracture. She said that she can't remember how she fell. Dr Hayes is with her now." 

"We'll get changed and head straight down." Amelia nods. They both walk to the attending's lounge, get changed and walk down to the pit. They walk up to the nurse's station where Dr Hayes is filling out a chart. 

"Are you Dr Hayes?" Link asks him. Hayes turns to face them.

"Yes." He nods. "You must be my Ortho and Neuro consults." He adds as his Irish accent becomes more apparent.

"Dr Amelia Shepherd. Neuro."

"Dr Atticus Lincoln, everyone calls me Link. Ortho." Both doctors introduce themselves. He leads them over to the patient. She is sitting up on the bed with her arm resting on a pillow and gauze over a cut on the side of her head. 

"Hi, Maddie." Hayes smiles. 

"Hi." Maddie smiles back. 

"This is Madison Clarke. 13-years-old. Fell and hurt her wrist. She also hit her head. She can't remember how she fell so I'm worried about brain injury." Hayes states. 

"Brain injury?!" Maddie exclaims.

"Let's not worry about that right now." Amelia states. "I'm Dr Shepherd, head of neurosurgery. This is Dr Lincoln, he's the head of orthopaedic surgery. He's going to take a look at your wrist and then I'll do a neurological exam. Is that okay?" 

"Yeah." Maddie nods. All three doctors sanitise their hands before Hayes closes the curtain around the bed. Link sits on the stool beside the bed.

"Maddie, can you try and make a fist for me?" Link asks the young girl. Maddie tries to make a fist but only makes it halfway.

"That's as much as I can do," Maddie tells Link.

"It's okay," Link shakes his head. "Can you wiggle your fingers for me?" Maddie tries to wiggle her fingers but Link can see that she's struggling.

"It hurts too much." Maddie shakes her head.

"Do you mind if I have a feel of your wrist?" Link queries.

"Go ahead." Maddie nods. As soon as Link touches her wrist, she takes a short, sharp intake of breath and holds it as Link examines her wrist and her arm.

"It's definitely tender and I can feel a small deformity in the wrist." Link nods. He turns to face Hayes. "Has she had any pain medication?" Link asks.

"500mg of Tylenol." Hayes nods. "That was given when she was admitted an hour and a half ago."

"It should have kicked in by now," Link sighs. He turns back to face Maddie, "Maddie, because you're in so much main and there's clearly a fracture or dislocation, I'm going to get a nurse to give you some morphine but I need your parent's consent. Are they here?" 

"They're in the cafeteria," Maddie replies, "they went to get a drink."

"Her parents have already given consent for any and all procedures and administration of tests and medication," Hayes informs Link and Amelia.

"They don't want to be here with you?" Amelia asks Maddie.

"They didn't have time to get a drink this morning because of what happened," Maddie says, "so, I told them that they could go and get some coffee. They've got a big meeting later on." 

"What do they do?" Amelia wonders.

"They're on the board at Seattle Pres." Maddie answers. "My mom used to be a neonatal surgeon and my dad is a cardiothoracic surgeon. He goes between doing surgery and admin stuff." 

"How come they brought you here and not Seattle Pres?" Hayes asks.

"Their meeting is here," Maddie responds, "I have no idea why." There are a few minutes os silence.

"Well, let's start this neuro exam." Amelia states. "You don't remember how you fell." Maddie shakes her head. "Do you remember what you had for breakfast this morning?"

"Toast with butter and a glass of apple juice," Maddie says. 

"Do you remember what you were doing before you fell?" Amelia questions. 

"I think I was walking up the stairs," Maddie tells her.

"You think?" Hayes raises an eyebrow. 

"Yeah, erm, I was about to walk up the stairs and the next thing I knew I was looking at the ceiling," Maddie explains.

"So it's a possibility that you could have passed out, fell down the stairs and that's what has caused your injuries?" Amelia asks the young girl. 

"Yeah." Maddie nods. 

"Okay," Amelia nods as she gets her pen torch out of her pocket, "keep your eyes focussed on me." She turns the pen torch on and shines it in her eyes. After no more than 30 seconds, she turns it off and puts it back in her pocket, "pupils are equal and reactive," she then holds her finger up, "follow my finger with your eyes," Amelia moves her finger side to side, up and down and diagonally and Maddie follows it. "There doesn't seem to be any visual deficits." Amelia shakes her head. "Do you mind if I have a look at the cut on your head?" Maddie nods her head. Amelia slowly takes off the gauze and looks at the cut. "Yep, that's going to need stitches."

"So, Maddie, we're going to take you for an x-ray of your wrist and arm to see where the break is." Link starts.

"My arm - wh- why do you need to do my arm as well?" Maddie stutters. 

"It's just a precaution." Link reassures her. "Just in case the force from breaking your wrist caused a stress fracture." He adds. "I'll also arrange for some morphine to be given to you."

"We'll also order a head CT and MRI just to be on the safe side," Amelia adds, "once we've reviewed your head CT and MRI, I'll get one of our plastic surgeons to come and sort out the cut on your head." Hayes then opens the curtain and calls over a nurse. The nurse finishes up what she's doing and walks over to them.

"Order a head CT and MRI and an x-ray of the wrist and arm for Madison." He says. "Infuse 20mcg/kg/hr of morphine subcutaneously and check on her every ten minutes for pain levels. Draw some blood and run every test in the book." He orders.

"That's a lot." Maddie laughs nervously. 

"We just want to make sure we're not missing anything," Hayes tells her. "We'll be back shortly." 

~~~

An hour has passed. Amelia and Link are in the scan room waiting for the images to appear on the screen. Since they're alone, Link grabs ahold of Amelia's hand and pulls her into him. He bends down slightly and kisses her as he runs his hand down the side of her body to caress her right butt cheek. 

"We can't," Amelia whispers once they've parted. "N-Not here." She shakes her head. "On-Call room? One hour?" She smirks. They go to kiss again but they are interrupted by a beeping sound indicating the scans are ready. 

"Scans are up." Link sighs. They part and look at the screens just as Hayes walks in. 

"Are the scans up yet?" He asks. 

"They just came in." Link nods as he studies the x-rays. "She has a Colles Fracture." He adds. He takes a closer look at the scans. "Did she mention anything about an injury or pain in her arm?" Link looks at Hayes. 

"No." Hayes shakes his head. "Why?"

"She has an old fracture to the ulna." Link points out the fracture. "It's healed but in the wrong place. She'll need surgery to fix that and the Colles Fracture." 

"How're the CT and MRI looking?" Hayes asks Amelia. 

"They're clean." Amelia nods. 

"Let's go and update her parents," Hayes states. They walk out of the room and make their way to pit. Before they walk up to where Maddie is with her parents, Haye's stops them. "A word of warning, her parent's are eager to get to their meeting."

"They're her parents." Amelia states. "Their daughter needs surgery. Surely they can cancel the meeting."

"They've already threatened to file a complaint about how long it's taking," Hayes informs them. "So let's update them and let them get to their meeting before they find something else to complain about." They continue walking over to Maddie and her parents, Bradley and Sarah.

"What took you so long?!" Sarah asks angrily. "Our meeting is in ten minutes!"

"Radiology have been backed up so it took a while for them to send the scans over." Link explains. "We apologise for the wait."

"Whatever," Bradley dismisses Link, "just tell us what the scans said."

"We ran a head CT and MRI which were clear." Amelia states. 

"However, she does have a Colles fracture and a nightstick fracture." Link adds. "She'll need surgery for both." 

"Then do it." Bradley gives consent. "We have to get to our meeting." With that, Bradley and Sarah walk away. 

"Are they usually like that?" Amelia asks Maddie. She had noticed that the young girl was more nervous with her parents than without.

"They're just stressed." Maddie shrugs. "They get irritable when they've got a big meeting." 

"How's the pain?" Link questions.

"It doesn't really hurt anymore," Maddie responds.

"That's good." Link smiles and nods.

"When will I have surgery?" Maddie queries.

"As soon as an OR becomes available." Link says.

"After surgery, you'll be put on our paediatric ward. You'll have to stay in for a few days for observation and then we can discharge you." Hayes finishes. 

"Okay." Maddie nods as she picks up her phone. Amelia sees the ferryboat phone case and smiles slightly.

"I like your phone case," Amelia tells her, pointing to it.

"Thanks," Maddie smiles, "I have a thing for ferryboats." She notices that Amelia looks like she's about to cry. "Sorry, did I say something wrong?"

"No." Amelia shakes her head. "My brother used to have a thing for ferryboats too," she adds.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Maddie apologises. "I shouldn't have said anything." 

"It's okay," Amelia assures her. "You weren't to know." There are a few moments of silence.

"Dr Hayes and myself will be the ones doing your surgery." Link informs the young girl. "I will come and get you when it's time." 

"Thanks." Maddie smiles and Amelia, Link and Hayes walk away and to the nurse's station. 

"Let's pull her file," Hayes states. "See if there are any previous admissions."

"Do you think she's being abused?" Link asks.

"She didn't get treatment for the nightstick fracture and it's a defensive injury. She didn't mention anything about it and she looked really nervous when her parents were in there." Hayes lists. "It raises red flags."

"I'm on it." Amelia nods. 

"Page me when you get the file." Hayes says before walking away.

~~~

Some time has passed, an O.R has become available so Link goes down to the pit to get Maddie. He opens the curtains surrounding her bed and sees that she's not in her bed anymore. He turns around. 

"Where is my patient?" He asks a nurse passing by.

"She was there when I checked on her five minutes ago." The nurse states. 

"Call security!" Link orders.


	2. Chapter 2

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**_Under the Knife - Rise Against_ **

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Some time has passed, an O.R has become available so Link goes down to the pit to get Maddie. He opens the curtains surrounding her bed and sees that she's not in her bed anymore. He turns around.

"Where is my patient?" He asks a nurse passing by.

"She was there when I checked on her five minutes ago." The nurse states.

"Call security!" Link orders.

"What's going on?" They hear. Link and the nurse look to the side to see Maddie. The cut on her forehead has been closed with stitches. "I went to the restroom. I didn't want to use the bedpan."

"You could have injured your arm even more." Link says as helps her back into bed. 

"I didn't." Maddie shakes her head. "I was careful not to use it or bump it." Link carefully places a pillow back under her arm. 

"The O.R is ready." Link tels her. "We'll be able to do some quick x-rays before we start fixing your bones. The surgery. hopefully, shouldn't take long." 

"Okay." Maddie nods.

"Great." Link grins. "Let's go." 

~

Some time has passed. Maddie is in a side room on the paediatric ward. As Hayes and Link are checking on her, she starts to come round. 

"Hey." Hayes smiles.

"Hi." Maddie smiles back weakly. She looks at the cast on her arm.

"The surgery went well." Link informs her. "We were able to fix both fractures. However, we had to fix the arm fracture with some metal rods."

"You'll be here for a few days to make sure that everything is healing properly and make sure that you don't get an infection," Hayes adds.

"Will the rods have to stay in?" Maddie asks.

"Normally, we would leave them in." Link nods. 

"However," Hayes adds, "since you're so young, we will see how the bone heals and evaluate whether it would be beneficial if we removed the rods."

"It definitely won't be in the next few months though." Link tells her.

"What about sports?" Maddie queries. "I'm on the hockey team at school."

"You need to stay away from sports until you're out of the cast. We'll review then." Link advises her. "Let's save the rest of that chat for when your parents are with you." 

"Where are my parents anyway?" Maddie questions. 

"They went home to get you some clothes." Hayes replies. "They should be back soon."

"I doubt that." Maddie mutters. Hayes and Link exchange a concerned look.

"Well, you must be hungry so I'll get a nurse to bring a jell-o cup or something for you." Hayes tells her. 

"We'll check on you later." Link tells her before walking out of the room with Hayes. Whilst Hayes walks off to check his other patients, Link walks up to the nurse's station where Amelia is. 

"How is she?" Amelia queries.

"Surgery went well." Link replies. "She'll be here for a few days." He adds. "Did you manage to get her files?" Amelia shakes her head. "Nothing?"

"Nothing." Amelia clarifies.

"Maybe they're under a different name." Link states. He walks around to the computer and sits down. Amelia follows him and sits in the other chair. "Did you just try Maddison Clarke?" He asks Amelia and she nods. "Okay, well her mom's maiden name is Jones, so let's try that." Link types in the name. "Nothing." He sighs. 

"What about double barrelling the surname?" Amelia suggests. "Try Maddison Clarke-Jones and Jones-Clarke." Link tries Clarke-Jones.

"Ah, Maddison Clarke-Jones. One hit. Date of birth, insurance number and address matches." Link states. He clicks onto it and then looks at her previous admissions. "She's been admitted to Seattle Pres and Pac North ER's quite a bit. Mainly for broken bones and concussions."

"I want to run a CT and MRI with contrast. Hopefully, I'll be able to see any previous injuries to the brain." Amelia says. "Let's try and do it without the parent's finding out."

"How are we going to do that?" Link queries. "Her parents have only gone to pack her a bag."

"I know the type of parent's they are." Amelia states. "They won't be back for a while. However, I'll get her pushed to the front of the line just in case."

"What about Hayes?" Link asks. 

"I'll let him know what we're doing." Amelia replies. "Does the file say anything about CPS being alerted?" Link looks through the file.

"Yes." Link nods. "They were brought in a couple of times."

"No doubt Hayes will want to bring them in." Amelia sighs. "Okay, you go and talk to Hayes, I'll take Maddie for her scans."

Amelia stands up and walks into Maddie's room.

"Hi, Maddie." She smiles.

"Dr Shepherd, right?" Maddie asks.

"Yeah." Amelia nods. "I'm here to take you for some more head scans."

"More head scans?" Maddie queries. "How come?"

"Dr Lincoln noticed in your files that you've got a history of concussions and so we thought it'd be best to run some detailed scans just in case." Amelia tells her. "How did you get the concussions?"

"I'm just very clumsy." Maddie laughs quietly. "I'm forever falling over my own feet or injuring myself doing sports at school." Amelia looks at her unconvinced. "I'm not being abused if that's what you think."

"It's not what I'm thinking." Amelia lies.

"I've seen enough doctors to know how they look when they think that I'm being abused." Maddie raises an eyebrow. Amelia looks at her sympathetically. "That look."

"Listen," Amelia sighs as she sits on the side of the bed, "this is a safe space. You can tell me anything."

"I know how this works," Maddie says, "if I tell you that I'm in danger, you have to tell CPS." She adds. "I'm not being abused." There are a few minutes of silence.

"Okay." Amelia nods as she stands up. "Let's get you down to radiology."

~

A couple of hours later, Hayes, Amelia and Link are in the scan room with Levi Schmitt.

"Scans show that she has multiple healed contusions," Amelia says, "she's been hit with a blunt object quite a few times."

"I'll bring in CPS." Hayes states. "That girl has all the signs of child abuse. Are the parents back?"

"They're sitting with her." Link nods. 

"Let's get them out to fill out some paperwork until CPS get here." Hayes orders Levi.

"On it." Levi nods before walking out of the room. Hayes' pager then goes off so he looks at it. 

"It's Maddie." He states. "9-1-1."


	3. Chapter 3

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**_Breathe (2AM) - Anna Malik_ **

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Hayes and Link run to Maddie's room and see nurse's surrounding her alongside Levi. Her parents are standing outside of the room. 

"What's going on?" Hayes asks.

"She's having trouble breathing." Levi states. "O2 SATs are 89%."

"Let's get her on 4 litres of high flow oxygen." Hayes orders. One of the nurses sorts the oxygen out and puts the mask over Maddie's nose and mouth. 

"Oxygen is still dropping. 85%." A nurse says. "She's becoming cyanosed." 

"I'm going to intubate." Hayes says. "Intubation tray!" He demands. A nurse quickly gets the intubation tray from the crash cart and hands it over to Hayes. He lowers The bed down and removes the pillows from underneath Maddie. "Push the meds." Hayes nods at the nurse. The nurse administers the medication and minutes later, Maddie slips into unconsciousness. 

"Meds are in." The nurse nods. Hayes connects the laryngoscope together and puts it in Maddie's mouth. He looks at her airway. 

"Her airway is extremely constricted." Hayes notes. "I need the smallest ET tube there." The nurse hands him the smallest ET tube and he tries to insert it. "Cricoid pressure." Hayes demands. Levi applies cricoid pressure and after some struggle, Hayes has got the tube in. "Tube is in." He connects the ambu bag. "Inflate the cuff." A nurse inflates the cuff. Hayes squeezes the ambu bag as Link listens to Maddie's chest. 

"Positioning is good." Link nods. 

"Let's get her to the ICU." Hayes says.

.

A couple of hours have passed. Link and Hayes are at the nurse's station on the paediatric ICU floor. 

"I dug into her files," Hayes starts, "she was hospitalised following a severe asthma attack when she was three. She has to be intubated then as well. She's had quite a few admissions for asthma but none in the last five years."

'Why didn't her parent's mention it?' Link asks confused. 

'I'm not sure.' Hayes sighs. 'CPS are talking to them now. She's going to be in for a week or so anyway.' Just then, the CPS social worker, Marie Walker, approaches them.

'Dr Hayes, Dr Lincoln?' She asks for confirmation. 

'That's us.' Hayes nods. 

'My name is Marie Walker. I'm with Child Protective Services.' She introduces herself as she shakes their hands. 'I'm here about Madison Clarke.' 

'What did you decide?' Hayes queries.

' _We_ didn't decide anything.' Marie shakes her head.

'What do you mean?' Link asks confused.

'Her parents handed her over to us.' Marie tells them. 'They didn't want to take care of her anymore.' She adds. 'Truth be told, we were going to remove Madison from the household anyway. The evidence that she is being abused is substantial. Seattle P.D. has launched an investigation and the medical board have been notified.' 

'What will happen with her?' Link questions.

'I assume she's going to be here for a while.' Marie starts and the two doctors nod. 'We'll spend some time searching for a foster family to take her in. If we can't find a family by the time she's discharged, she'll be sent to a group home.' She adds. 'In the meantime, I'll be coming every now and then to check on her but I'd appreciate it if you'd give me an update every day.' 

'Of course.' Hayes nods. Marie hands him her card. 

'And please don't tell Madison what's going on. Legally, I have to do that.' Marie informs them. 

'We won't.' Link assures her. 

'Thank you.' Marie nods appreciatively before walking off. 

'How do you do it?' Link asks Hayes.

'Do what?' Hayes asks confused.

'Treat children who have been abused.' Link clarifies.

'It's hard,' Hayes sighs, 'it's taken a lot of practice. You have to have patience with the parents, you can't lash out at them, you have to listen to what the child is saying. Some children don't realize when they've told an adult that they're being abused.' He carries on. 'In Maddie's case, she knows exactly what's going on and she knows that she has to be careful about what she says but she's too scared to tell anyone in case they don't believe her.' 

'So what do we do?' 

'We be careful around her.' Hayes tells him. 'She may flinch when you go to do something or at loud noises. So just be wary of that. She may also be a flight risk so once she's conscious we need to keep a close eye on her.'

'Do we bring in psychiatry?' 

'Let's wait until she's awake and decide then.' Hayes states. 'I have a surgery.' He then walks off leaving Link alone.

'Poor girl.' Link mutters to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you think!


End file.
